I had just spent two and a half years in Holland playing for PSV Eindhoven, and while I was there, I examined Dutch and English, which was very difficult. It was a smart task I did because before that I didn’t know anything, I mean NOTHING, about any language other than Korean and Japanese. Having the basic knowledge of English helped me when I joined United in 2005, because I needed to have conversations with other players and it was very vital for me to adapt to the culture of the club.
At first, two players particularly helped me to settle the most, and they were both Dutch: Ruud van Nistelrooy and Edwin van der Sar.
Edwin arrived at about the same time as me, in the same merchandise, and enjoyed the Premier League with Fulham. Ruud had been at the club for a few years and was very smart in explaining to me the history of the club. It helped me to have the connection of having spent time in Holland, especially with Ruud because I had been to the PSV before. I wouldn’t say my English was pretty good right now, but I was better than my Dutchman, so we spoke in English and they helped me adapt.
Language was the main difference between England and Holland, so it was my only big challenge to adapt, and I gradually moved forward with it all the time, learning the language, learning what it was like to play English football and learning what. meant betting for United.
A few months after my arrival, this little Frenchman appeared.
This isn’t the first time I’ve contacted Patrice Evra. When I at PSV played against AS Monaco in the Champions League, I think in the circular of ’16, so I knew him from the matches of some.
At first we weren’t that close. He had just joined, I had only been there for six months, and there were also French players who could help him settle down. So Louis Saha and Mikael Silvestre, they helped him a lot.
At first, we didn’t merge at all. After that, I don’t really know how it happened, but little by little we started to get closer. He moved to Alderley Edge and then informed me that I did too, so we lived close to each other and also connected to video games. At the time, I think we were betting Pro Evolution Soccer. Once we started betting that, we’d meet in each other’s space for dinner, play and get closer like this. I didn’t speak French, he didn’t speak Korean and none of us spoke Very Good English, so I guess the football language helped!
For the first few months, he was quiet at the club. It didn’t last long! He needed to know everything and everyone before he showed his total character. When I met the club, I knew the players, it was more comfortable and everyone can see that it had a huge personality and has become a big influence on the locker room.
Patrice is noisy. Everybody knows now. Probably in the 3 most sensitive in this group. Rio, Gary, Patrice. I think everyone would guess those three were the loudest in this locker room!
So I don’t really know how Patrice and I became close friends, but it happened over time. Then, when Carlos Tevez arrived in 2007, the three of us became close. Again, I just don’t know why!
He spoke Spanish, Patrice can also speak Spanish, so we were friends. After practice, we played two taps on the box together, and then it started to be every time we did something in or out of the box. Even though I can’t talk to Carlos because I don’t speak Spanish and he may not speak English at the time, Patrice just translated all our conversations!
We take a few words from everyone else’s languages: Korean, French, Spanish, but actually just a few words. Sometimes the words! But we speak basically English and Patrice translated when he needed it, because I think Carlos can speak English, but he doesn’t need it!
Every time we met for dinner, at the hotel and even during the pre-game warm-up, the three of us warmed up. We were just together. On the plane for Champions League matches, in the exercise for an away game in England, we were sitting together. Everything went well and even though we didn’t speak a language, we were satisfied together. We were all comfortable. Everyone deserves to be comfortable with someone, and even if we couldn’t talk right away, we feel very comfortable with others like 3.
The environment helped because we were all satisfied with what was happening to the team. It was a very clever moment for me in and out of the box. We were all smart friends and spent more time in combination than with our families. In this situation, it is one of the most vital things to have: special emotions with other players.
We were professionals and we knew what we had to do and how to do it, so we won important matches, won trophies and shared some times with each other. The example of me, Patrice and Carlos shows what United’s wardrobe was like at the time. We weren’t from the same continents, we came from all over the world, players from Asia, Europe, South America, but those three were close friends within this club. It shows how the costume was, it shows everyone how smart it was. That’s how we did it at the time.
We have won the Premier League several times and have reached many last ones, and it was in Moscow that I lived one of my most unhappy moments when I found out I was not on the Champions League team against Chelsea. They were all great, but I still don’t forget Patrice and Carlos in particular, they definitely comforted me. I was unhappy, obviously, but they just hugged me, and then I can see in their faces how disappointed they felt about me and how unhappy they felt. They sought to share the opportunity with me, with their friend, so I felt appreciated for their habit and expressions in their faces. But what can we do? I was disappointed before, and then, once the game started, I was just praying for us to win. That’s our situation. The atmosphere in our dressing room was like this. After all, we won the Champions League, so no one can blame anyone!
The component after, the component I liked, the component I did not like, it was a strange feeling. I can sense in my head that we were champions of Europe, but I may not feel it in my heart, so they were mixed feelings. I was pleased to have controlled and won the Champions League, what we wanted to do, and I know it wasn’t just me, there were other players on the team who hadn’t played. We had 25 or more people looking to be part of the team and only 18 who could do it, so I knew it wasn’t just me. It’s the team, you know.
For me, I appreciate bringing some things to the team to help you accomplish this feat, but each and every player knows they have to do their job. If I couldn’t be part of the training team in Moscow, it meant there was something I needed for myself. If you lose something, you have to find a way to get it next time. I did it because the following year we reached the last of the Champions League and started that time, but unfortunately we didn’t win!
After that, Carlos left and has become very strange. We had been together, and then, when he left, there was an area where he had been. Patrice and I were talking about it, we wondered why he went to sign for City, because we missed him, but that’s football; you never have the same players with you until retirement. We know that one day we will split up, but with us, it happened quite early, after only two years. We would have liked it to have stayed longer, but that’s football life and we have to settle for it.
It wasn’t long before Carlos returned to Old Trafford with City, and it was a very, very rare day for us. Even the warm-up was strange. We had been in combination, the 3 were warming up, and then, before this game, we were warming up separately on the field, just Patrice and me in combination and we might see Carlos there with his new team. That first moment we saw was that strange feeling, but then it went because we’re professionals, so we knew we had to focus on the game, we had to win. After that, we can just kiss our friend and communicate with him, but during the game, the main task is the derby and we have to win the game. Football continues.
So we were back with two friends in the locker room.
The rest of the players asked, they asked us, “How are you guys guys?!” They asked us, but they never gave us an answer! It just happened naturally, it was a feeling we had. It’s something special. We enjoyed it and I think everyone liked to look at us and wonder how we can get close. They worried us, laughed with us and I think they liked having our little friendship inside the team.
They were joking with us, and in a moment they gave us a nickname.
Rush hour.
At that time, the film was made notice all over the world. Someone on the Internet made some pictures: the poster of the movie Rush Hour with our heads on it. My head in Jackie Chan and Patrice’s body was Chris Tucker. I saw him first and showed it to Patrice. We enjoyed it, discovered it amusing and laughed all the time. Everyone in the locker room enjoyed it and stayed. We once took a picture of ourselves in the same pose as the poster.
We had a great time, but like I said, you never spend your whole life betting football with the same players and in 2012 I had to leave United. It’s very strange, very sad, very complicated for me. Seven years is the longest time I’ve spent in one of my clubs, but that’s the time I had to leave to play.
It was difficult, but tell Patrice … Wow. It was hard! I felt bad for him. We have the same agent and he knows everything that’s going on, he knew what could happen, but he didn’t make it any easier.
Our online website uses cookies and other technologies similar to our online website and your online experience. By proceeding to use our online website, you agree to the use of cookies. Please refer to our cookie policy to be more informed.